Churro Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream
By Emily Carter ·
Published
Quick answer
Blend 1 1/2 cups cottage cheese with 1/2 cup milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and salt for 60 to 90 seconds until smooth, freeze the pint for a full 24 hours, then spin on Ice Cream, re-spin once with a tablespoon of milk if crumbly, and dust each serving with cinnamon sugar just before eating. The pint carries roughly 40 g of protein, about 10 g per serving across 4 servings.
Churro Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream is the fairground pint that tastes like a fresh churro edge. It is cottage cheese, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and salt, blended smooth, frozen solid, spun creamy and finished with a cinnamon sugar dusting. Warm, sweet and properly high protein at the same time.
Why you’ll love it
- Tastes like a churro, not like a protein shake that got frozen.
- About 10 g of protein per serving from label values, about 40 g per pint.
- Five minutes of hands-on work, then the freezer and the machine do the rest.
- No protein powder needed, since cottage cheese carries the protein here.
- Cinnamon sugar dusted at the last second stays sparkly and crisp.
Ingredient notes
Brown sugar: the churro ingredient. It gives the caramelised, fried-dough note that plain sweetener misses in this flavor. Three tablespoons in the base is enough once the pint is frozen.
Cinnamon: one and a half teaspoons in the base, plus the dusting. One teaspoon tasted faint after freezing, while two teaspoons turned woody, so the middle amount is the recipe.
Cottage cheese: full-fat gives the creamiest result. Low-fat works too and keeps the protein high, but the pint freezes a little firmer. Small curd or large curd does not matter, since everything gets blended smooth for a full 60 to 90 seconds.
Vanilla: two teaspoons, more than most pints here, because vanilla carries the dough note that makes cinnamon read as churro instead of just spice.
Cinnamon sugar dusting: one teaspoon of sugar mixed with half a teaspoon of cinnamon, dusted just before eating. Dusting early melts the sugar into the cold pint and loses the crispness.
The freeze and spin rule that makes or breaks it
Two rules decide this pint, and both are about patience. First, freeze for a full 24 hours on a level surface, with the top smoothed flat. A pint frozen for only a few hours, or frozen at a slant, spins soft and uneven. Second, do not judge the first spin. Cottage cheese bases often look crumbly after the first cycle, and that crumbly look sends a lot of people to the conclusion that the recipe failed. It did not. One tablespoon of milk and one re-spin turns it thick, creamy and scoopable. The cinnamon sugar goes on at serving time, never before freezing, so it stays sparkly.
Variations
- Chocolate churro: add 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder to the base for a chocolate churro pint, keeping the cinnamon sugar dusting.
- Churro crunch: add a tablespoon of cinnamon chips through the Mix-in cycle after the re-spin for extra crunch.
- Caramel churro: finish each bowl with a drizzle of caramel sauce under the cinnamon sugar dusting.
- Apple churro: fold a spoonful of cooked cinnamon apples through the spun pint for an apple fritter style serving.
What we learned testing it
- Brown sugar beat granulated sweetener clearly here. The brown sugar pint tasted caramelised and churro-like, while the sweetener pint tasted like plain cinnamon ice cream.
- Cinnamon amount landed at 1 1/2 teaspoons. One teaspoon tasted faint after freezing, while two teaspoons turned woody, so the middle amount is the recipe.
- The re-spin mattered as usual. The first spin looked crumbly, and one re-spin with a tablespoon of milk turned the pint thick and scoopable.
Read how we test recipes.
Churro Ninja Creami Protein Ice Cream
Makes 1 pint (about 4 servings) · 24 hr 10 min total · Easy
Ingredients
Equipment
Blender · Ninja Creami machine · Ninja Creami pint container with lid
Instructions
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Blend the churro base until completely smooth
Add the cottage cheese, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and salt to a blender, leaving the serving sugar aside for later. Blend for 60 to 90 seconds until completely smooth, scraping down once, with no curd texture left. The base should look like a smooth cinnamon vanilla shake.
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Pour into the pint and freeze for 24 hours
Pour the base into your Ninja Creami pint container, staying below the max fill line. Smooth the top with a spoon so it freezes level, which helps the machine spin evenly. Snap on the lid and freeze the pint on a level surface for a full 24 hours. A shorter freeze gives a soft, slushy spin.
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Spin on Ice Cream, then re-spin if crumbly
Take the pint straight from the freezer, remove the lid and load it into the machine. Select the Ice Cream setting and let it run the full cycle. If the pint looks powdery or crumbly after the first spin, add 1 tablespoon of milk and press Re-spin. That one re-spin is what turns this base from crumbly to creamy.
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Dust with cinnamon sugar and serve right away
Scoop into bowls right away, while the texture is at its best, and dust each serving with the cinnamon sugar just before eating. Dusting at the last second keeps the sugar sparkly and crisp, like the crispy edge of a fresh churro.
Notes
- Brown sugar in the base gives the caramelised, fried-dough note that plain sweetener misses in this flavor. It is worth using brown sugar here even if you sweeten other pints differently.
- Dust just before eating. Cinnamon sugar dusted early melts into the cold pint and loses its sparkle and crispness.
- Taste the base before freezing. A frozen pint always tastes a little less sweet than the liquid base, so the base should taste just slightly sweeter than you want the finished ice cream.
- If your freezer runs very cold and the pint is too firm to load, let it rest on the counter for 2 to 3 minutes before spinning, no longer.
Nutrition per serving
Nutrition information is being calculated.
Substitutions
- Brown sugar
- Use granulated sweetener or sugar at the same amount. The pint stays good but loses the caramelised fried-dough note, tasting more like plain cinnamon ice cream.
- Cottage cheese
- Use the same amount of blended Greek yogurt for a tangier pint with a similar protein count and a slightly softer texture.
- Vanilla extract
- Use vanilla bean paste at the same amount for visible vanilla specks and a slightly richer flavor.
Storage and make-ahead
The texture is at its best in the first few minutes after spinning. If you have leftovers, smooth the surface flat, put the lid back on and refreeze. Re-spin leftovers straight from the freezer on Ice Cream, adding a tablespoon of milk if they look crumbly. Eat refrozen leftovers within 3 days for the best texture.
Frequently asked questions
Why brown sugar instead of regular sweetener?
Brown sugar gives the caramelised, fried-dough note that makes this taste like a churro instead of plain cinnamon ice cream. Granulated sweetener works, but the pint tastes plainer.
Why dust the cinnamon sugar at the last second?
Dusted early, the sugar melts into the cold pint and loses its sparkle and crispness. Dusted just before eating, it stays crunchy like the crispy edge of a fresh churro.
Can I add cinnamon chips or pieces?
You can add a tablespoon of cinnamon chips through the Mix-in cycle after the re-spin, but the dusting alone gives the classic churro finish with less fuss.
How much protein is in this ice cream?
These are label-based estimates, not lab tested numbers, and they vary by brand. The pint carries roughly 40 g of protein in total, about 10 g per serving across 4 servings. Check your cottage cheese labels for your exact numbers.
Can I refreeze and re-spin the leftovers?
Yes. Smooth the surface flat, lid the pint and refreeze it. Spin leftovers straight from the freezer on Ice Cream, with a tablespoon of milk if they look crumbly. The texture is best within 3 days.
